Sharing Life's Lessons on Living in this World and yet being Above it!

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Monday, February 29, 2016

Reflections on ‘Aashirwad’, Rajesh Khanna and the essence of the Bhagavad Gita

Everything is impermanent.
Everything, including your own body, will soon perish.

The TOI story

A story
in the Times of India this morning on
the demolition of Rajesh Khanna’s erstwhile bungalow, ‘Aashirwad’, on Mumbai’s tony Carter Road, got me to pause and
reflect.

The
property’s new owner is bringing down the bungalow to redevelop the estate and
construct a new building. The bungalow is iconic for many reasons: Rajesh asked
for an advance from noted Tamil producer Sandow Chinnappa Devar, which came in
the form of Rs.5 Lakh in cash in a suitcase, for buying the bungalow from actor
Rajendra Kumar; Devar in turn signed-up Rajesh for ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ but Rajesh wanted the script re-written and
entrusted the project to Salim-Javed; so, in effect, ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’ became the first film that the writer-duo got
joint credit – and payment – for! The truth is that had Rajesh not wanted to
buy that bungalow, he may not have done ‘Haathi
Mere Saathi’ and had he not done the film, Salim-Javed would not be the
legends they are today! The film ‘Haathi
Mere Saathi’ also marked a critical, upward, inflection point in Rajesh
Khanna’s rise to superstardom – the first in Bollywood!

‘Aashirwad’ was also home
to many of Rajesh’s relationships – the more known among them being the one with
Dimple Kapadia, who he also married; the one with Tina Munim; and, in his later
years, the one with his live-in partner Anita Advani. It was on the terrace of
this bungalow that, according to a close friend and film journalist Ali Peter
John, Rajesh Khanna in a state of drunken stupor, envious and enraged over the
aura of Amitabh Bachchan that had taken over the Hindi film industry, looked up
at the sky and howled: “Oh God, why me?” So, ‘Aashirwad’ has seen a lot – it has seen success, superstardom,
relationships, break-ups, failures and falls. Maybe many, many, more untold
tales lay hidden within ‘Aashirwad’.
But now ‘Aashirwad’ is gone. Reduced
to dust. Just as the superstar who once proudly lived in it has since long been
reduced to dust.

When I
read the story of the bungalow’s demolition, it struck me that ‘Aashirwad’ was but a metaphor. All our
stories will end up that way too – as dust! I remembered how, when our Firm’s
fortunes came crashing down, and we had to close down and vacate our office, I physically
shredded each of our key statements of intent – our Purpose, Vision and Values
statements. It was a numbing, cathartic moment for me. This was a Firm that I
had dreamt of becoming a global icon in the consulting space, this was a Firm
that my wife and I had grown with love and passion, yet, it had been reduced to
nothing – and as it lay defunct, lifeless, it, eerily so, appeared that I was
performing its last rites that day in 2012.

As I
sipped my filter coffee, and brought my attention back to the ‘Aashirwad’ story in today’s TOI, I
reflected on the essence of the Bhagavad Gita:

Whatever happened, it happened well.

Whatever is happening, it is happening well.

Whatever will happen, it will also happen well.

What of yours did you lose?

Why or for what are you crying?

What did you bring with you, for you to lose it?

What did you create, for it to be wasted or destroyed?

Whatever you took, it was taken from here.

Whatever you gave, it was given from here.

Whatever is yours today, will belong to someone else tomorrow.

On another day, it will belong to yet another.

This change is the Law of the Universe.

I
believe intelligent living is about pausing and imbibing this learning. Nothing
belongs to us. Everything and everyone will be gone some day – including you
and me! Clinging on to material possessions and stances and opinions is a total
waste of energy and precious time. If we review our lives closely, deeply, we
will find that all our insecurities and strife comes from whatever we are
clinging on to. The moment you let go of whatever is possessing you, consuming
you – a habit or a position or an object or a person or a relationship – you are
liberated. You are free. It is only when you
are free that you can experience Life – and its magic and beauty – fully!